LibriVox recording of Cleek: The Man of the Forty Faces, by Thomas W. Hanshew (1857–1914). Read by Ruth Golding.

Meet Hamilton Cleek - man of mystery, and master of disguise and derring-do.

Cleek's exploits are, to say the least, highly improbable, but the book is enormous fun. The goodies are good and the baddies are very bad indeed, but beware - things are not always what they seem. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy a rattling good yarn!

Cleek is the central figure in dozens of short stories that began to appear in 1910 and were subsequently collected in a series of books. (Summary by Ruth Golding and Wikipedia)

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M4B audiobook of Complete Book


This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: Thomas W. Hanshew
Date: 2009-12-16
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; audiobook; mystery; detective story; crime; jewel thief; Scotland Yard; Narkom; Cleek

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Timothy Ferguson - - October 7, 2011
Subject: A marvelous new superhero
I'm amazed he's not in the Leauge of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Reviewer: Boomcoach - - February 16, 2010
Subject: An excellent story, and an excellent reader
Cleek's stories were one's I had heard of but never read. It was great getting a chance to hear the start of this excellent series.

Ruth Golding's reading was magnificent. Her characters were well differentiated, but each was understandable and felt real. The whistle in the beginning of the prologue was particularly well done.

Reviewer: JWedg - - February 15, 2010
Subject: A Cracking Great Series of Stories !!
Read with the addition of a variety of voices (consistently done throughout) really helps the read-aloud stories almost become a play inside your head, with a variety of actors (readers). We are lucky indeed to have Ruth Golding do the readings for this book.

The stories are classic mysteries (locked room, disappearances, obscure references, clues dropped within conversation etc) WITH romance mixed in: with unspoken promises, touching hands producing paroxysms of joy and all the usual twaddle of that time. No passionate loves scenes here! But, being an incurable old romantic as well as an old fart, I enjoyed these immensely. ENCORE!!

Reviewer: librivoxbooks - - January 29, 2010
Subject: Thank you for listening
Thanks - I'm glad I introduced you to the marvellous Cleek. I'm also recording The Riddle of the Purple Emperor right now and it's also a rattling good yarn.

Reviewer: mikezane - - January 27, 2010
Subject: Great story
Cleek is a detective with a singularly creative mind. He considers things from other dimensions, catches clues that others miss, and does it with the style and carriage of a gentleman. His history is unknown, however. He is just Cleek.

Mind that you listen to the prologue and epilogue, as they contain important information about Cleek.

Reader was very good. I, too, am reading the other novels in this series. Enjoy!

Reviewer: sunnydays - - January 11, 2010
Subject: Cleek The Man of the 40 FAces
Loved this book so much that I am reading
the other ebooks in Cleek series. Ruth's amazing narration helped in visualizing the characters and their situations. Thanks for introducing me to another detective series.